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Fatigue crack growth analysis of aircraft structural material

Author

Vikneswaran Narayanan

Date of Issue

2009

School

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

An experimental fatigue life analysis was performed using the Air Force Growth(AFGROW) crack life prediction software for predicting the life of aircraft structural components.
The research was twofold. Firstly was to gain exposure into a commercially available software AFGROW and the second was to predict the services life‟s and crack propagation characteristics of the aircraft component parts.
It was shown during the course of the experiments that the fatigue life‟s can be performed with reasonable accuracy and efficiency. This was demonstrated by investigations firstly on flat plate aluminum alloys with surface cracks and then validated by comparing it with experimental test date.
This research was also done on typical aircraft lugs to predict the service life of aircraft component parts and simulate the crack propagation lines in a practical manner.